Category World News

Israel, Hamas return more bodies of captives under Gaza ceasefire deal

By in News, World News

The Palestinian group claims that Israel is breaking with the Gaza ceasefire agreement by refusing to reopen the crucial Rafah border crossing with Egypt after Israel and Hamas exchanged the remains of even more captives.

Aryeh Zalmanovich, 85, and army Master Sergeant Tamir Adar, 38, both identified as having been taken into custody of two more Israelis, one soldier and one civilian, late on Tuesday and later identified as having been held captive in Israel.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

Prior to the handover organized by the Hamas-based Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had received the bodies in Gaza.

Zalmanovich passed away in Gaza on November 17, 2023, and Adar passed away in a fight in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing him and returning his body to the Palestinian territory.

In accordance with Israel’s ceasefire agreement, Hamas has now handed over the bodies of 15 Israeli prisoners.

Although Hamas claims that the bodies’ recovery has been hampered by the ongoing devastation in the Palestinian territory and the Israeli military’s continued control of some of Gaza, an additional 13 sets of remains are expected to be returned to Israel.

At the start of the ceasefire, the Palestinians also released 20 of the country’s 20 most seriously incarcerated people in a single day.

According to a medical source, 15 Palestinians who were detained by Israeli forces were later brought back to Gaza where they were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex for identification.

In accordance with the ceasefire agreement, Israel has committed to release the remains of 360 more Palestinian prisoners who are still alive and are still imprisoned in Israel.

Some 45 Palestinians’ bodies arrived last week, according to a forensics team that received them, still shackled and showing signs of physical abuse and possible execution.

The Bisan Center for Research and Development’s executive director, Ubai Al-Aboudi, claimed that Palestinians who are held hostage by Israel should also be regarded as such.

Al-Aboudi, a Palestinian-based Al-Aboudi correspondent in Ramallah, claimed that “when we talk about Palestinian prisoners, we are actually talking about hostages.”

Al-Aboudi noted that since the Israeli occupation of Gaza began in October 2023, about 20% of the Palestinian population has been detained or arrested by Israel over the years.

He claimed that the majority of them are detained on military orders issued by a foreign military occupation and without any due process or prosecution.

Rafah crossing is still closed.

Despite Israel’s “repeated violations,” a Hamas delegation said in a statement to Turkish officials in Qatar on Tuesday that the Palestinian organization is still committed to the ceasefire agreement.

The Hamas officials claimed in a statement that Israel is putting off the implementation of the ceasefire by closing the Rafah crossing to facilitate the movement of sick and injured people and impedes the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The Hamas delegation’s leader, Mujahid Muhammad Darwish, also emphasized “the inalienable rights of our people to self-determination and their right to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

In Cairo’s Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month, Turkiye was one of the signatories to US President Donald Trump’s document on the ceasefire agreement with Gaza.

Since May 7, 2024, the Rafah crossing has been closed because of Israeli forces’ invasion of the southern Gaza Strip’s city, where close to one million people were sheltered at the time.

The crossing, which connects Egypt and the Palestinian territory, is one of two “arteries” for humanitarian access, according to the UN.

Following an urgent submission from South Africa, the UN’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ordered Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing on May 24, 2024. However, the crossing has remained closed and has only been accessible through the adjacent Karem Abu Salem crossing.

After a temporary ceasefire that also allowed for medical evacuations on January 19, 2025, before Israel issued new forced evacuation orders for Rafah at the end of March, residents of the destroyed city could only return home.

North Korea fires ‘unidentified’ ballistic missiles towards East Sea: Seoul

By in News, World News
Developing a Story

Published On 22 Oct 2025

South Korea’s military reported that this was its first missile launch in a while as North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile at waters off its eastern coast.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which will feature world leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, will take place in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Wednesday morning.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

According to the official South Korean Yonhap news agency, “at least one unidentified ballistic missile” was fired towards the East Sea, which is also known as the Sea of Japan.

The most recent launch is the first under Lee Jae-myung’s new presidency, which took office in June, according to Yonhap reports that North Korea last fired short-range ballistic and cruise missiles towards the East Sea on May 8 and May 22.

According to the Associated Press news agency, experts warned that North Korea might launch provocative missile tests in response to its commitment to being recognized as a nuclear-armed state before or during the APEC summit.

During a massive military parade in Pyongyang, where top Chinese, Russian, and other leaders were present, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un debuted a new long-range Hwasong-20 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), which he called the “most powerful,” earlier this month.

Kim’s strengthening diplomatic ties on a regional and global scale and his persistent efforts to develop sophisticated weapons capable of carrying nuclear payloads were highlighted at the parade, which marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party.

Pyongyang has long opposed international restrictions on the development of weapons, calling them necessary to shield North Korea from US and South Korean potential attacks.

Trump recently stated that he hopes to meet Kim again, possibly this year, after having previously met the North Korean leader during his first term in office.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,336

By in News, World News

Published On 22 Oct 2025

On Wednesday, October 22, 2025, how things are going:

Fighting

    In Novhorod-Siverskyi, in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, a “massive” Russian attack claimed the lives of four people and injured seven, according to Governor Viacheslav Chaus’ post on Telegram.

  • According to Chaus, there was “a lot of destruction in the city” as a result of Russian forces’ firing of about 20 Shahed drones during the attack.
  • In the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, Serhii Horbunov, the head of the Kostiantynivka City Military Administration, wrote in a Facebook post that two people were killed and one was hurt by Russian attacks.
  • Nine people were hurt in a Sumy region of Ukraine as a result of a Russian drone attack, according to governor Oleh Hryhorov.
  • According to the newly installed Russian-led governor, Vladimir Saldo, a Ukrainian attack on a region of southern Ukraine in which one person was killed and five were injured.
  • According to regional authorities, one person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in Novostroyevka-Pervaya in the Belgorod Region of Russia, according to the state-run TASS news agency.
  • According to the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine on Tuesday, Russian energy-related attacks in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region resulted in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without electricity.
  • According to local authorities and TASS, more than 1, 000 people were without electricity as a result of a Ukrainian attack on the Kamianka-Dniprovska region of Russian-occupied Ukraine.
  • The Bryansk chemical plant in Russia was struck by Ukrainian forces, according to a Facebook post from the Ukrainian General Staff, adding that the “result of the strike is being evaluated.”
On Tuesday, a team of Ukrainian volunteers worked in Sloviansk, Ukraine, to identify Russian bodies that had been recovered from the front lines and returned to their families [Jose Colon/Anadolu].

diplomacy and politics

    A senior White House official stated to Al Jazeera that “there are no plans for]US President Donald] President Vladimir Putin to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the immediate future,” days after Trump had suggested a meeting could take place in Hungary “within two weeks or so.”

  • Trump addressed the situation in the Oval Office, saying, “I don’t want a wasted meeting… I don’t want a waste of time, so I’ll see what happens.”
  • According to Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, “preparation is required, serious preparation,” any potential meeting could take some time.
  • However, Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, claimed on X late on Tuesday that “the media is twisting comments about the upcoming Summit” and that “preparations continue” for the meeting between Trump and Putin.
  • Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, stated in his nightly address that the US appeared to have turned its back on the possibility of providing long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, leading to a decline in Moscow’s interest in the presidential meeting.
  • Russia almost immediately lost interest in diplomacy as long-range mobility became a little further away from us, according to Zelenskyy.

Regional security

    Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia, was shot and injured last year, and he was found guilty of terrorism charges and given a 21-year prison sentence. The shooter claimed that Fico’s approach to Ukraine, which ended the country’s state-sponsored military assistance to Ukraine and sought to bolster ties with Moscow, was opposed.

Cold cells, meagre meals: Palestinian American boy suffers in Israeli jail

By in News, World News

Mohammed Ibrahim, a Palestinian American teenager, has testified in the case that has become a symbol for the mistreatment of minors in Israeli jails, according to Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP).

Mohammed, 16, described the harsh conditions he has endured since his detention began in February in an interview with a DCIP lawyer that was published on Tuesday. These include sagging mattresses, cold cells, and meagre meals.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

He is quoted as saying, “The meals we receive are extremely insufficient.”

We only get three tiny pieces of bread for breakfast and a small amount of labneh, respectively. Our lunchtime portion is sparse, only containing a single sausage, three small pieces of bread, and half a cup of dry rice that is not fully cooked. We don’t get any fruit, and we don’t get any.

Since Mohammed’s detention began more than eight months ago, DCIP claims to have lost “considerable amounts of weight.” At the time, he was only fifteen.

Mohammed’s family, human rights organizations, and US lawmakers have been pressing Israel to release the teenager in response to US President Donald Trump’s administration.

Over the past two years, the US has given Israel more than $ 21 billion.

The director of DCIP’s accountability program, Ayed Abu Eqtaish, said in a statement that “nothing but an American passport can protect Palestinian children.”

Mohammad is still imprisoned in Israel despite his family’s support for him in Congress and US Embassy involvement. Only one nation in the world consistently prosecutes children in military courts.

Mohammed’s family in the occupied West Bank were taken into custody after Israeli soldiers raided their home in February. Mohammed claimed to DCIP that during their transport, the soldiers beat him with rifle splinters.

Prior to being transferred to Ofer, another detention facility, the teenager spent the initial years living in the notorious Megiddo prison, which a recently released Palestinian detainee called a “slaughterhouse.”

We still feel cold at night, Mohammed told DCIP, “each prisoner receives two blankets.”

“The rooms don’t have a heating or cooling system. There are only mattresses, blankets, and a single Quran copy in each room.

The teenager, who denies it, has been accused of kicking stones at Israeli settlers. According to legal experts, Israeli military courts’ military tribunals almost never hear Palestinians from the occupied West Bank.

Following the recent prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the abuse that the released Palestinian prisoners have described sparked new calls for Mohammed’s release.

Mohammed Ibrahim, a US citizen, is currently imprisoned in an Israeli prison. His condition is deteriorating. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley wrote on X on Sunday that the circumstances are desperate.

The United States must make every effort possible to free this American child who is Palestinian.

At least 79 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli jails since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza in October 2023, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Club, because of a lack of medical care, food restrictions, and reports of violence and torture.

Following the ceasefire over the past week, Palestinian prisoners who were handed over by Israel have been shown signs of torture and execution.

Mohammed’s family informed Al Jazeera earlier this year that they were concerned for his life.

Zaher Ibrahim, the son’s father, claimed that the Trump administration could use its influence to call upon him to free him. He continued, “But we’re nothing to them,” according to Jazeera.

Hundreds of anti-immigrant protesters burn vehicle, attack police in Dublin

By in News, World News

Published On 21 Oct 2025

At least 1, 000 protesters have clashed with police in southwest Dublin, throwing bottles and fireworks at the police during anti-immigration demonstrations sparked by alleged assault on a young girl.

After a report that a 26-year-old man had sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl on the grounds of the Citywest Hotel in Saggart, southwest of the Irish capital, protesters came out in droves.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

The unnamed man was charged with the sexual assault after showing up in court on Tuesday.

The man, who requested a Romanian interpreter in court, was an asylum seeker, according to local media. His ethnicity has not been confirmed by the police.

At the time of the incident, the young girl reportedly had the state’s care. The girl “absconded” while traveling to the city center, according to Tusla, Ireland’s child and family agency, and was later reported missing.

Anti-immigrant protesters threw fireworks at police, carried signs that read “Irish lives matter,” and chanted “Get them out” during the demonstrations that were held on Tuesday near the hotel grounds.

According to the news agency AFP, officers reportedly lit up a police van as they reportedly charged at protesters with pepper spray before scunning them from the hotel complex.

In response to the protests, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan remarked, “The weaponizing of a crime by those who wish to sow dissent in our society is not unexpected.” This is inadmissible, and it will lead to a harsh response.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin earlier stated that the events were “extremely serious and very, very grave” and that they were “extremely serious and very, very grave.”

The demonstrations on Tuesday follow riots that broke out in Dublin’s central district in November 2023 after three children were hurt in a knife attack outside a school. Police at the time identified the suspect as an Algerian man in his 50s.

Following the stabbing, torching vehicles, and attacking riot police, a far-right mob of at least 100 people invaded Dublin’s streets. Some had their faces covered and some had metal bars on them.

More than 400 police, many of whom were dressed as riots, were dispatched to halt the unrest, according to police, who claimed it was “caused by a small group of thugs.” Following the rampage, at least 34 people were detained.

Ireland and the United Kingdom have recently seen rising anti-immigration sentiment, despite the country’s unique lack of far-right members of parliament. In June, anti-immigration protests erupted in Northern Ireland and erupted into police clashes.

When two Romanian 14-year-old boys were detained on suspicion of sexually assaulting a teenage girl, the protests started in Ballymena, a town of about 31 000 people, 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Belfast.